


A Future To Fight For

by Charlie9646



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Angst, Ben Solo Lives, F/M, Fixing the Ending, HEA, Happy Ending, Loving Marriage, Marriage, One Shot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Redeemed Ben Solo, Sex, Smut, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:33:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23320996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie9646/pseuds/Charlie9646
Summary: Before the anger she held, brought his beloved daughter to the same ruin that had killed his grandfather. The same destruction that nearly took his own life. The same that nearly destroyed a galaxy along with him.Sometimes Ben wondered if it was the same anger that almost led to Luke trying to kill him long before his own fall from grace. Without darkness, there was no light, but without darkness, there would be no need for light would there be?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11





	A Future To Fight For

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QuinTalon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuinTalon/gifts).



> Thank you MegRaven for the cover art

Ben sat on a distant rock on a planet that he up until a few years ago, wouldn’t have been able to pick out on a map. Let alone would Ben would have ever considered living here. But, the truth was it was safer here - safer for his family and everyone else.

His children would never be Jedi, but the girl would also never fall into the darkness like his great grandfather and father before her. His son would never face the pain of being hurt by his sister. He was just a child here - Han and Leah would grow, learn and laugh. They would watch sunrises and sunsets. They would have friends - not other children to compete against them. They would understand the true beauty in peace, but never experience as a child pressure to fight to keep it. Unless they choose to as adults like their mother had.

But, the most significant thing was the twins would know who their family was - the good and the bad parts. Because to hide such facts from them would only lead to more pain, and that would undoubtedly cause history to repeat itself. The two children ran towards him the little girl with hair as black as midnight and the little boy with deep brown waves. Their matching hazel eyes we're filled with the joy only children could experience.

”Come on, ” he called to them, ”I am sure your mother is waiting on us.”

Instead of following they stopping their play, they proceeded to play tag. The children’s laughter filled the desert air.

”Alright, ” Ben laughed, ”A few more minutes, but if your mother is upset, she can decide your punishment.”

He leaned back on the sun-heated stone and stared up at the sky, if there was real peace - it was something like this moment.

***********************

Once Ben convinced the children to follow him back to their home, he found Rey, who was making dinner. The very sight of her calmed him and quieted his mind - bringing him both balance and stability. He still felt horrible taking her away from her home and friends, from the people who had become her family. It pained him now looking back that he had never made peace with his mother.

Sometimes Ben wondered why in of all the people Rey could have chosen - she choose him. They saved each other, after the man who claimed to be Rey’s own grandfather had been killed. The force had tied their souls together, but weren't they always? Either way they now we're bonded by the life they shared, by their vows, and their family.

He wrapped his arms around Rey, and she leaned into his touch.”How was your day?” Ben asked her.

”Good, Meri, wants me to teach the children in her class about the Jedi.”

”Do you think that's a good idea?” He asked her, ”I mean, they are only six.”

She turned away from what she was chopping to face him; her small hand reached for his neck, and she stared up into his brown eyes. ”Ben, you know the policy we decided about the past...”

”We can't pretend it never happened; we can't forget it. Our history has made us who we are. If we don't teach it to this generation, they are destined to repeat it.” Ben whispered, “They need to know that the darkness has its own temptation so that they can fight it.”

Rey rocked up onto the toes of her bare feet and kissed him. Her fingers tangled into the black hair at the nape of his neck. Her lips tasted sweet and dark like the wine she was drinking as she cooked. Rey pulled away and said, ”I love you, Ben.” 

”And I love you, Rey, ” he said to her, ”Every single part of you.” His large pale thumb rested on her pale pink soft lips.

”I have to finish dinner - it should be done in a half-hour or so, ” Rey said to him, ”And then we can attempt to get the kids to bed at a decent time. Then just maybe we can get a moment of peace.” She muttered the last part under her breath; the twins loudly played in the corner their toys smashing together, pretending as if they were pilots whose ships had crashed into each other mid-air from the looks of it.

There was beauty in this quiet evening even if at times, as if every day seemed the same, there was comfort in the sameness. Because the truth was one day far too soon, there would be no more moments like this. Their children no matter much they wished they would not - would grow up - they might choose to stay on this quiet spinning rock of a planet in this far off place. They might go searching for something interesting or thrilling.

The two of them together decided to give their children, though, something neither of them had grown up, choice. And even if one day that caused them pain to watch their children leave the home they had created together - they would know at their very cores they had done the right thing, the good thing, the proper thing.

Ben sat down at their small kitchen table trying to draw he had taken up the hobby to soothe his rambling thoughts. Rey enjoyed more sharper thing, target practice to ease her own nightmares from the war. It felt at times like it had happened to other people, or at least decades or maybe even a lifetime ago. But, the truth was it had been less than a decade that it had happened. As it stood, there were trees, the few that there were on this planet, that had been alive longer than they had been here. 

Ben tried to forget about the past as his charcoal darkened the page in front of them, trying to ignore everything but the darkness shading the light. There had to be a balance with art - the same that there had to be in people - the same that was in him.

Leah shoved Han down, snatching his toy truck from his hands. ”That's mine, ” the six-year-old screamed, ”And you can't have it!” She shoved the smaller child down on the ground for good measure.

”Leah! They are not your toys - they are both your toys.” Ben snarled at her, ”If you cannot accept that, then you will no longer be allowed to play with them, at all.”

Rey stopped what she was doing to check on Han, who seemed still slightly shell shocked at his sister's behaviour. It wasn't the first time something liked this had happened, nor was it likely going to be the last.

”Daddy - but he - Started It!” Cried Leah, her hazel eyes filled with tears. ”He always starts it! He always picks a fight, and then I get punished for it!”

”Because, Leah, you seem to think the answer is to solve it with your fists.” Rey said to her daughter, ”How many times have your father, and I told you to tell us when Han does something mean? That it is our job to handle such things as your parents?”

”Hundreds, ” drawled Ben answering for his child, ”But, Leah, anger is like a sword. Leah, you can either use it properly and have it help you fight for the right things, or you can let it control you. And then all it does is just hurt you and others. Tomorrow I am going to show you something out back that I want you to do every time you're angry.”

”Okay, dad, ” mumbled Leah, still refusing to look her father in the eyes. She did not realise her father knew her shame and pain more than anyone - because he was the one who Leah inherited her anger from. ”Can we have dinner now?”

”Yes, ” Said Ben, ”But, you have something to do first, Leah.”

”I am sorry, Han, ” Leah said softly to her brother, ”You know I don't mean it right? That I love you? Sometimes though this anger builds inside of me. I sometimes don't even know where it comes from.”

”We’re siblings, Leah, twins.” Han said to his sister, ”I will always forgive you, even if you are a brat sometimes.”

The little girl stuck her tongue out at her brother, and he did the same. Ben wondered to himself; we're some Skywalkers just cursed? Were they just cursed to live with rage that bubbled up like some underwater hot spring or a volcano, waiting to explode? If he had any say in the matter and he hoped that he did, history would not repeat itself, Leah would learn to control her anger in a healthy way before it consumed her.

Before the anger she held, brought his beloved daughter to the same ruin that had killed his grandfather. The same destruction that nearly took his own life. The same that nearly destroyed a galaxy along with him.Sometimes Ben wondered if it was the same anger that almost led to Luke trying to kill him long before his own fall from grace. Without darkness, there was no light, but without darkness, there would be no need for light would there be?

The family of four sat together eating their simple, quiet dinner, in a city where they were just Rey and Ben, Leah and Han. Farmers who once in a while did a little smuggling on the side. It wasn't the life either Rey or Ben dreamed of as children, but it was a good life.

*****************************

Ben laid under the thin sheet, the cold desert chilling him. Yet he could not be bothered to pull up the blankets desperate not to wake sleeping, Rey. She got so little after all with her own nightmares. His mind wandered to thoughts of the day, to memories of his own childhood. Was the worry he felt for Leah what his own mother and father had felt about him?

Could they too recognise the anger that bubbled just under the surface within him? Luke surely did. The man feared him - feared what he might become - what he had become. Would all their actions be for nothing? Would his daughter fall straight into a path that would bring her doom?

She had the force within her - he could feel it. Nearly reach out and touch it. Should they train her? Or should they stick to their plan to wait? To wait until their children were grown? Wait until they fully understood what they were choosing. Until they weren't kids becoming warriors to fight things that they could barely understand themselves?

Ben was grateful when he realised his son did not process the force, that he was like his namesake -free of both the blessing but also the curse of it. Power came with a price. Power was like a bloodstain no matter how hard you scrubbed a tiny bit always remained. Their lightsabers we're hidden from sight, his mother’s, which was now his and Rey’s own we're in the trunk at the foot of their bed. Sometimes Ben had a burning desire that could not be ignored to use his.

Not for evil - not in the name of darkness - not to harm. The problem was though one step towards that even if it was good - was a step back towards power - the same power which had corrupted Ben all those years ago.He had an idea to help his daughter to help her process the anger she had inherited from him, from his grandfather.

“I can hear the wheels in your mind turning, Ben,”Rey muttered, “It’s not your fault, and honestly she's just doing normal kid things. I know neither of our childhoods were what anyone would call normal, but other siblings do the same thing.”

She pushed him down onto the bed before he could respond. Her small hands tangled into his hair and then she kissed him. Ben pulled her even closer fingers grazed her back and then took her one breast into his hand, feeling her nipple pebble under his hand.

Rey arched away from him and cried out in pleasure. His hand was on her hip.Ben entered his wife, a tangle of limbs and bodies. He forgot about everything but the feeling of her against him. Lost in the sounds, Rey made, her cries and moans.He lost himself in the passion and the peace of all of it.

***************************

Ben stood outside of their door the sun beat down on his skin, Leah was kicking a stone around with the toe of her shoe, back and forth. She seemed to vibrate with energy in some sort of odd way. Looking back, he had been not unlike her as a child.

”What are we going to do, Dad?” Leah asked him her hand over her eyes, shielding her face from the sun.

”It's a surprise.” Said Ben, ”And I know how much you like surprises.”

”No, I don't, daddy, ” She cried. ”You know I hate them, don’t you?”

”Well I think you might like this one, but that is just me.” He took her hand then, and they wandered to the barn.

When they reached the door, Ben opened the heavy wooden door, and together they stepped into the dusty barn. Hanging up in a corner was a weighted bag.

”Dad, why are we here?”

” You're going to work through your anger on something that you can punch and kick as much as you want to.” Ben said to her, ”And it doesn't care if you hurt it, nor do I.”

Leah smiled up at and then took off toward the heavy canvas bag. She did not have to be told what to and started to punch it. Her black hair swung around her like waves. Her laughter filled the air. It wasn't a perfect solution - as his daughter grew, they would have to figure out other ways to manage it. To contain it, but also to give it a focus, so it didn't drown her.

Ben Solo promised himself that he would do everything in his power to make sure she did not go down the same path as he had. He felt his mother in the morning light - the calmness of her spirit - the strength but also the love. He felt Luke in the storms that crashed over the farm. The damage that could do but the new life they brought as well. But he felt his father less strong than the rest he was in the quiet moments, the moments with his children around a fire, and the comfort of safety.

Life would continue on; there was planting to do, and things to break apart to try and make money from them, but in this moment they could wait. Ben had better things to do. Play with his children, kiss his wife and try to forget and honour the past at the same time.


End file.
